Orphanage visit

After a more traditional Chinese only breakfast at the hotel, we were off in our bus to the orphanage. It did not take too long to ge there. We passed a procession of people in yellow with banners and followed by more people waving a dragon "float/kite" apparently celebrating the opening of a new store. Very pretty.
We turned up a narrow lane with vendors lining the side and then turned left in through the SWI gates. Right away we could see older people lining up at a table to receive some sort of shots and then ahead a beautiful lake with the building Claire had spent her first year in the background. I recognized it from pictures. The bus parked, Claire led the way to another building where the director waited.
Director Jiang is the new director. He was assistant to the deputy director at the time we adopted Claire and has been at the SWI for 22 years. We were led into a board room where watermelon, bananas and bottled water awaited. We took our seats and the orphanage director welcomed us and congratulated us on such beautiful strong girls, welcoming them back to Shaoyang. Kelly, Chloe's mom, responded in kind, thanking him for the care they gave the girls during their first year. Then we were welcomed to ask questions. We let the girls take the lead here. We had discussed with them individually what questions they would like to ask and we let them know this was about them. They asked their questions, which I will not share here but try to imagine questions 6 year olds might ask, and the director very patiently answered them.
He then presented each girl with the gift of a jade pendant on a red string, wishing them long life and happiness.
Personnel then brought in the boxes of formula and diapers we had donated through our tour company, OCDF, and the children opened the boxes. Then it was time to see the baby rooms. We headed out to the other building to the third floor . We saw babies, many with unrepaired cleft lips/palates, and several non special needs babies. We were able , with the help of the dirctor, to find two babies whose moms had requested I get pictures of them. I was able to take those pictures and later send them to those excited waiting families.
Next we found the two ayis or nannies who cared for Claire, Chloe and Jaden as babies. They remembered them and pointed out where their cribs had been. This was incredibly meaningful to the girls.
Then down to the second floor where the Half the Sky rooms are (www.Halfthesky.com) We met three older waiting children there. Again I was able to take pictures and tell them their families were coming soon. Our kids brought them dress up clothes and arts supplies.
I am respecting the director's requests not to publish any pictures of children inside the orphanage.
After taking pictures by the little outdoor table and chairs, we were invited to a local restaurant for lunch by the dirctor. We had a lovely lunch and even got a chance to see a local couple celebrating their wedding. The director came to the bus to say good bye and told us we would be welcome back any time.
The girls truly felt welcomed back to Shaoyang and the SWI. It was a better visit then I could have hoped for. Pictures in next post.

ON TO HUNAN
This was a travel day. We were up early and headed to the airport. Jena had a headache, Evan wasn’t feeling well, Mom had a bad night but was doing better. Andie was about the same.
We were met at the airport in Changsha by our two guides, Oscar and Jacky. We saw them because they had an OCDF sign (the tour company we are using) and another sign . It said “Welcome back Hunan girls” My eyes welled. I remembered how I had teared up leaving Hunan with Claire more than 5 years ago. Now she was back. And what would the visit be like? Thus far, touching.
We headed into town and dropped Mom and Jena off at the luxurious Dolton hotel. They would have Oscar as their guide and he would take them to the embroidery institute and the provincial museum the next day.

The rest of us and Jacky then headed for Shaoyang; where Claire, Chloe and Jaden spent the first year of their lives.
It was a four hour drive with loads of entertainment by the children (Honestly, I am starting to sing Crazy Car in my sleep and before now I did not even know it!) We saw farmers working in the rice fields. There were tents set up in some fields where Jacky said the farmers slept to protect their watermelon crop against thieves. And then we came to Shaoyang city.
It’s quite a weird feeling for me to drive through this city where my daughter lived for 12 months before she knew us. I wonder what was going through her mind? There were plenty of large building and high rises but also street vendors and poverty. We turned down one street and suddenly came upon the hotel. It was quite wonderful looking. More than I expected. We got checked in then quickly met Jacky downstairs in the lobby to go for a quick walk down the street. It was 7 p.m. and I was disappointed it was so late as I would love to wander more. I will come back some day with Claire and explore more.
We found a sidewalk barbecue. The barbecue itself was fueled by charcoal, about 6 inches wide and several feet long, and on the sidewalk next to it was a bowl of shrimp, alive and ready to be put on the Barbie. We walked to a convenience store where we bought some wine as a gift for the director and candies for the children at the orphanage. We headed back to the hotel and Jacky suggested a place across the street from the hotel for dinner. I went back to the hotel and stayed with the sleeping Andie and Evan and Mark, Rogan and Claire joined the others. This was the first time Claire used her Chinese, talking to a little girl about her age. Rogan struck up a conversation with a boy who told them they were the first Westerners he had ever seen in town. Mark brought me back some delicious dumplings and some pork and rice so I got to enjoy dinner too. Tomorrow, the orphanage visit.

Panda pics...

Pandas, pandas, pandas

Today Andie is still not feeling well. Temperature but no other symptoms. Luckily chewable Tylenol really does the trick.
It rained last night so our guide, Lily, says that bodes well for us as the pandas are likel y to be more active when it is cooler (cooler being a relative thing, methinks.)
As we arrive at the panda research center outside Chengdu, we are trying to walk fast to beat the crowds. We pass chairs and signs where obviously something special is going onj. Apparently the president of Spain is coming today and there will be a ceremony as Spain is donating to help with panda research. We are so excited to finally see the pandas. A highlight of the trip, for sure, especially for the kids. We pass the adult panda areas, heading straight for the toddler panda area. We get there and there is one big group ahead of us but there is plenty to room to view the pandas. And they are out and about and active. I am so excited. As are the kids. We had given Andie a disposable camera and I think she took all the pictures in 20 minutes
There were two toddler pandas wresting, a few were fed while we were there and one was obviously napping. . Because pandas are naturally carnivores but only eat bamboo (And little rats called bamboo rats) there digestive system have to work very hard to absorb the little bit of nutrients they can absorb. They eat about 40 lbs of bamboo a day and only are able to digest 2%. So they have to rest and sleep lots to save their energy.
Although it is very expensive, we decided that we would pay for a very special (and memorable treat for the kids) The three big kids each went and stood, arm around a toddler panda (born last August) In fact the panda was Jing Jing, the panda one of the 2008 Olympic mascots is modeled after. Then we went to the baby section and Andie put on a special little gown (like at the doctor’s office) and sat next to a baby panda. She says (and I quote) “The panda put his arm around me but the lady gave him some bamboo so he moved his arm. And he dropped bamboo on my leg (giggling) .” And when we went out of the building she came up to me and said “Mom, the panda smelled like cherries” hmmm……. We also saw the adult pandas and the red pandas (Actally part of the raccoon family.) A very satisfactory visit. Woo hoo.
We headed out for another fabulous lunch after which our family, now very tired, decided to head back to the hotel. Claire stayed with the other families. They went onto a local park and teahouse where the highlights were feeding koi with a baby bottle on a string (really!) and a lady who made them candy shaped like fireflies, butterflies…
That night we had some take out pizza hut and headed to the town square
It was late for any activities like dancing but we just walked around marveling at the families and of course the kids in split pants . There is a very large statue of Mao there too. We enjoyed ice cream from McDonald’s (mine was mocha, Claire’s, grape and Rogan’s was raspberry.)

Pictures downloading timed out and it's late and I am days and days behind with this so I bid you good night. Pictures later!

Moya

Beijing to Chengdu

Early morning with bags out the door at 6 a.m. and breakfast. Have I mentioned how good breakfast is at the hotel? And then off to the airport. We found ourselves seated all over the plane. I had a seat with Andie but Mark was in row 12, Rogan I think 17 and Claire in 24, Evan with Jake in 20 and I was in 32. A nice gentleman traded with Claire so she could sit with me. Andie slept during the whole flight and when we landed I realized she was burning up. I am so glad I had my sling!
BTW, totally inappropriate in-flight movie. Once Chris told me it was 40 Year Old Virgin, I raced up front to where Rogan was sitting to tell him not to watch. Wow! Racy for a plane!
We collected our luggage,( except one piece which we found was on another plane and would be delivered to the hotel) and headed off to lunch. This time at a Traditional Medicine Restaurant. Another stunning meal. We have really been having amazing meals. We ate all of ours and then started eating some of the dishes the kids did not eat (they were at a table next to us)
Then off to the life we were meant to live. For $15 each, Jena, Mom and I had full body massages. Oh my. I thought of seeing if I could take this guy home with me. Amazing (although the sound was so funny when he started hitting my legs…slap, slap, slap, I started to laugh!). The rest of the gang including kids, except Andie, had a one hour foot massage.

On to the Embriodery Institue where we saw the traditional Chengdu embroidery (our guide, Lily, called it brocade. )We saw a display of this very type of embroidery in Raleigh a few years ago at a display fo Chinese arts. It takes two people to embroider on a huge machine; with one person sitting way atop and pulling strings to determine the pattern. It's very complicated (at least for me) to understand the mechanics of it) but the results are quite beautiful.
Then to the hotel. I was tired and stayed back with Evan and the others in my family headed down the road to Pizza Hut. A very American evening as Mark brought me a mocha frappuccino (sp?) from the Starbucks across the street (there are three within in a block of the hotel)
To bed in anticipation of seeing pandas in the morning.

More pictures from Beijing rainy day

Rainy Day in Beijing

Gotta go out...more pictures later!

Our tour day was not set to start until 3:30 with a Hutong tour and kindergarten visit scheduled. So we had lots of time on our own. Mom and I and Jena headed out in a cab to shop but were amazed that we ended up at a high end mall with Brooks Brothers and Tommy Hilfiger, which were totally not what we were looking for. So we returned and Mom watched the kids while Jena, Mark and I went back to the market from the day before and scoped the place for the chess set Mark has been after forever(well, since he saw one and did not buy it in Beijing 5 years ago)
We met with great luck after a concerted effort, I got some silk outfits for the girls and a jacket for myself. The bargaining is such a chore. Started off the jacket for me at 680 yuan (divide by 8 for dollars) and I offered 300 for one for me and one for Jena. She finally let me have mine for 150 but the other lady was still bargaining with Jena. We actually had walked out of the stall and to the elevator before they called out to Jena, okay 150 yuan. Now she has a nice jacket.
It was raining by the time we left and the only cabs out front wanted 100 yuan to take us to the hotel .It had cost us 20 yuan to get there. We ended up having to go out to the street and wave a cab down. In sanity!
On the way back, I got a call from Doyle who said no hutong tour because of the rain (Ahhhh) I really wanted to share that with the family but I understood the rationale. New meeting time 4:30 for dumpling meal and then Beijing Acrobats.

Packed for leaving the next day (love our tour company and all the gifts they give the kids but where am I putting it all???) Then headed out.
Another fabulous dinner, this time at a dumpling restaurant,. Claire borrowed my camera so I am showing you a few shots of a 6 year olds view of things. In reviewing my pictures, I thought hmmm, was she in the same place I was?
Our tour guide is fabulous. We love him and he is great with the kids; he handed over the bus microphone to them and we were treated to a real variety show on the way to dinner!
Then to the theatre for the acrobats…a great show. Up to 11 on a bicycle, amazing juggling, jumping rope, climbing… They offered a dvd of the performance for $7 and I bought it b/c the kids missed some of it as they were nodding off. Too tired for a late night. Home to hotel and to bed.

The Great Wall of China

Boy am I behind on this blogging. Nothing like a jet lagged 4 year old getting you up at 4 every morning (if you are lucky) then having a full day and falling into bed at night… I shall try to catch up a little. (Sorry aout the sideways pics!)
Today was Great Wall Day. We piled onto our bus after breakfast and the kids entertained themselves up front and we folks relaxed in the back of the bus (from where we could see them. Unlike the first day…figured that one out!) We arrived at Mutinyahu part of the Great Wall which Claire and I had visited last year. Turns out that was the other side. So we went up on ski-lifts (honest, that’s what they were like) and climbed a bit and then the boys and Mr. N and one of the girls went on to climb as far as they could before the wall stops at that point (1500 steps, I believe) My calves are aching days later from the bit I climbed (Did I mention it was 96 degrees?)
How to get back down? Well, Andie wasn't interested in the other option so she and her Dad went back down the way we came up. But the rest of us took a slide down. Yup. And was it ever cool. Claire and I rode together and I think everyone had fun although our two boys crashed and that was not too good!
After we cooled off with a drink in the govt store and bought a few items, out we went to face the many vendors. Some of the kids really did not appreciate the yelling and grabbing but I tried to explain, it’s all part of the process. Everyone got something and we left happy with our Great Wall adventure. We then rode a few minutes in the bus to a wonderful meal , thoroughly enjoyed by all. The chicken ,which was delicious, came with its head on ( I have a great picture) and the food was great (Again!) and the beer tasted great too. Cold beer on a hot day after a climb on the Great Wall. Ahhh.
Back to Beijing and to the Pearl and Toy market. Some bargains were found, some purchases made and off we went back to the hotel. We tried not to fall in bed from exhaustion and headed off down the block to McDonalds for dinner. We passed 8,(kids counted) Pekinese dogs on the way. No other kinds and the walk and meal put us right in the mood for bed which we gratefully fell into.

Monday...Beijing

An early start with a stunning breakfast (what was not served?) and we were early for our tour so we went for a walk around the block just to take in the sites. This area is not a touristy spot at all and so there were some neat things to see including a pet shop, people getting ready for work and cycling by, folks doing their morning exercises and playing badminton. Then off we went to our day's outing at Forbidden City. We strolled through Tiananmen Square, stopping to admire the kite flyers and the soldiers. At seeing the soldiers lining up in formation and marching, our wonderful guide, Doyle ( he picked that as his "English" name because if you yell out Doyle, it sounds like you are yelling for your guide in Chinese) pulled out his old army i.d. to show us he ws once a soldier and proceeded to line our kids up (there are 9 of them; I mistakenly referred to 7 on the plane but no, all 9 were there) and get them marching. It was too funny They were having a great time, Doyle was having a good time and we had quite the audience. Pictures are attached!

We took the typical pictures in front of the picture of Mao at Forbidden City and headed inside. Poor Andie was soooooo tired and I immediately regretted not bringing a stroller. It was about 95 degrees and she wanted to be carried. I did so some, her cousin Jena carried her some (and for her generosity she was then approached by Claire (6) who asked Jena while carrying Andie, if she could get on Jena's back!, and Andie was on Mark's shoulders a bit.

Because there was so much behind scaffolding in preparation for the Olympics, we did some walking through the buildings along the sides of the city, formerly storage building. They now house displays on weaponry, parades etc of the era. There was air conditioning in those rooms and so we didn't mind too much. Evan can be seen in one of these pictures looking as if he is kowtowing. No, the child was just desperate to feel the air!

After we finished our tour, we headed to a noodle restaurant. The food was okay but I was surprised that the noodles were cold. Andie of course, loved them . See the picture of her enjoying her noodles!

After our lunch we headed back to the hotel. The ladies headed out to explore the local stores and Id found that everything was troo small (okay and a little skimpy and then there was the t-shirt Jena found with a giraffe and the words "Join me in waiting for football season" huh?

Back to the hotel. the boys had been swimming and the girls napping. the girls then went swimming with Mark ad then we headed to Mac d's for dinner. It was late and we were exhausted but we needed something in our bellies. We then headed to bed (although Andie had fallen asleep in Jena's arms on the way home. She was up again at 3:15 a.m.

Arrival in Beijing

June 24
Arrived in Beijing about an hour after scheduled. The trip was fine with all seven kids behaving very well during the 12 hours in the air. The service on United was good (lots of water offered; important for that hydration) I was glad I brought my sling as Andie was pretty darned tired when we got there!!
After we collected our luggage and went to the main part of the terminal, we looked for the sign indictaing our tour group. There were many signs! As we got the the end of that area, I heard someone call my name. I turned around. It was Oriole, our translator last year when Claire and I went to Dianjiang (and she will be our guid e there next week as well) She was at the airport to meet with a group travelling onto Choingqing by plane. All of China, and one of the few people I know sees me at the airport. What are the chances? Slim at best?
Anyway, went on to meet our guide and headed off to our hotel on a gorgeous big airconditioned bus. An hour's drive to our Hioliday Inn, then we got a little settled in and headed out to find something to eat.
Mom still had not arrived and her flight had changed, our guide told us, and someone would meet her at the airport.
So off we went for a walk up the street in the rain to look for food. It was just Jena ,our niece, and our family of 6 as the others chose to stay at the hotel. We went to the grocery store for some snacks and water for the next day and then to KFC where we pointed at the menu to get some food.
A few minutes after we got back, I was getting the kids showered (we share adjoining rooms with three beds in one and a king and a cot in another.) when there was knock on the door. Jena had gone down to the front desk and met my Mom there. (Now you might think, if you knew my family, how so? Jena last saw Mom at our wedding almost 15 years ago when Jena was three and our flowergirl (Where is a picture of that for the blog, Jena?)She says she just guessed it was Mom. Mom had arrived and found no luggage had made it with her! She had spent some time at the airport trying to sort it out and finally got a cab to the hotel (there was someone there from our tour compnay to meet her but she did not know. Big hats off to Mom's friend Mary who was able to e-mail the tour company to tell them her flights had changed so we would know why she did not show up!) Anyway, a few minutes after Mom arrived, the tour company called worried and then promised to check out the baggage situation. Mom had a few things carry on and I lent her a few pieces!
A shower and literally fell into our rock hard bed! From which no one stirred until I heard a little mouse named Andie at about 4 a.m....

And we are off

Just some last minute errands and before you know it we will be on that plane to Beijing. All of our travel group have passports and visas in hand (yes!!) and are ready for our grand adventure. We have our 4 small suitcases and our large duffle bag and suitcase for donations and then everyone has a backpack for the plane. Ready, set... adventure!

Toys for Dianjiang

The awesome folks who have shared the joy of adopting a child from Dianjiang have been amazing in their support of Dianjiang Kids International, Gracie's Room and foster care. We are heading for China with a large (and heavy!) duffel bag of toys and a medium size suitcase also full of baby toys. Some folks have sent generous checks to Dianjiang Kids with which we will buy supplies for the orphanage (And post pictures of same) I know the folks at the orphanage will be thrilled with these gifts.

Here is a picture of a bunch of students whose teacher is a Dianjiang dad. The students designed and sold a t-shirt with the Chinese character for Love, their school name and "Dianjiang Orphanage" and they sent the money raised to DJKids to buy supplies for the orphanage. What an awesome group of kids!
And of course I cannot wait to re-introduce our Andie to the folks at Dianjiang. Claire is very excited to meet up with old friends from our trip last June.

Thanks to all my fellow Dj parents. You guys rock!

Passport trauma

Our travel mates, the N family are suffering some serious stress right now as their passports, sent off to a courier to get Chinese visas, were lost by UPS. The now have less than two weeks to get new passports and visas unless UPS finds them quickly. Prayers are appreciated as we need the N family to share this adventure. Come on passports!

We are a group of 17 travellers about to embark on a most excellent and memorable adventure. Our family of six will be joined by the S Familyand N family, along with my mom and my niece. Our three families were all blessed on January 6, 2002 when we first met our daughters from Shaoyang, Hunan, P.R. China. Now we will travel back together to visit their homeland and, for the first time, their orphanage. The S family will also visit Tongling where their other daughter spent the first months of her life, and we and the N family will visit Dianjiang, Chongqing where our Andie spent her first months.
Our custom tour will include several days in Beijing to visit the sites, time in Chengdu at the panda reserve, and Shanghai, as well as the orphange cities.
You are welcome to follow us on our tour and add comments as we go.